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The story I'm writing is a post-nuke winter novel in which the MC is born into a "safe dome" where the resources are limited. They have no animals for food and the only crops they have are cotton, sugarcane, mushrooms, and rice. They survive off of eating the deceased people of their community (however, the food is liquified and placed into cans, and the flavor is disguised), except for the fact that the people of the safe dome have no idea they're eating people, only the higher-ups (who process the food into cans) do. How do I accurately portray a dystopian society pretending to be a normal place while still having such limited resources that realistically they'd resort to cannibalism? You can't healthily survive on rice, mushrooms, and sugar, (and salt, since it's a mineral) which is why I felt safe in adding them, but when I start to think about it, how would the following exist? Help!

  • paper
  • dye (for cotton clothing)
  • other animal-based non-food products
  • plastic
  • knives, utensils, cups, mugs, plates
  • tables, chairs
  • lighting (could be used with fire, but in that case, what would the fire be fueled by)
  • ovens/stoves (MIGHT just get rid of these altogether since everything is just canned anyway tbh)
  • books (the society is heavily Christian, would need bibles)
  • anything else you can think of, really

The issue with saying they could've brought it there before the fallout is because

  1. the dome was originally supposed to be a political/government thing and NOT a safe haven, it was entirely unplanned
  2. this takes place about 200 or so years after the fallout first happened, so biodegradable things/easily breakable things (glass, wood, paper, books) would have probably been lost by then.

YES, I know there's a ton of plot holes, but I'm sorting that out (wouldn't be against constructive criticism/ideas though)

Laurel
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Confusing Fungus
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1 Answers1

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I am happy you exist, I love items relating to nuclear fallout and time travel/loops.

First order of business, a nuclear winter normally lasts up to 25 years because of the clouds covering the sun's light. Then, after that it would take about 10 years for the earth to recover, but of course everything would be irradiated.

Then this "Safe Dome" I think should literally be an old church. There's a church on the other side of town from where I live that's a literal dome, which I thought looked really cool when I was more into my youth.

When it comes to the cannibalism, you should make it a mixture close in relation to dog food. What I mean by this is add mushroom and rice to hide the fact that it's human. Make the chunks of meat into diced or processed(ground up and reformed).

Now, as for the grills and electrical, it should be gas grills. Propane will last roughly a day or so for grill time, and it would be of use. The thought of electricity would be an interesting idea, so even though it's a nuclear winter, you want to have teams head out in search of supplies. Gas stations nearby and possibly a grocery / hardware store would be of use (greater possibility of lasting fuel). Obviously you want this to be about 200 years in the future, but I'm sorry to say, DON'T MAKE THIS TO BE THE NEXT FALLOUT SERIES! (Fallout game franchise / Bethesda)

I really hope this helps out.

Eventually, I'll add a way for people to contact me if they have more questions. (I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty good in this field.) Good luck

Jack W. Hall
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